Bottle-sealing device



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. PAINTER.

BOTTLE SEALING DEVICE. No. 468,258. Patented Feb. 2, 1892.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets--Sheet 2 W. PAINTER. BOTTLE SEALINGVDEVIGE.

m. 468,258. Patented PebQZ, 189-2.

fever 250 7*.-

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM PAINTER, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

BOTTLE-SEALING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 468,258, dated February 2, 1892.

Application flied June 16, 1890. Serial No. 355,603- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM PAINTER, of-

the city of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in l-lottle-Sealing Devices; and l do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings furnished and forming a part thereof,is a clear, true, and complete description of my invention. I I

For use with any suitable sealing medium, whether in the form vof a plug or a disk, or a combined disk and plug, applied at or in the mouth of a bottle, I have devised metallic sealing-caps embodying certain novel characteristics which render them highly effective and so inexpensive as to warrant throwing them away after a single use thereof, even when forcible displacement, as in opening bottles, has resulted in no material injury to the caps.

- Metallic sealing-caps have heretofore been devised and largely used, and these have involved grcatvarietyin the character of metal employed and in the form and construction of their pendent flanges; but my sealing-cap in its best form differs from all others of which I have knowledge in that it has a pendent flange which is unbroken or continuous, but is nevertheless resilient bot-h radially and circumferentially, and it is therefore contractibio and expansible and capable of adapting itselfand of being adapted to the-largest as well as the. smallest head in a set of bottles, it being well known that bottles of the same size are unavoidably more orless varied in the external dimensions of their heads.

Prior sealing-caps or capsules composed of thin soft metal have had continuous or unbroken pendent flanges; but they arenot resilient, although. capable of some slight distension, as when forced upon a bottle-head. Other prior sealing-caps have been composed of harder metals, and they have had continuous or unbroken flanges, which, unlike the capsules, are practically incapable of being distended upon a bottle-head; but, like the capsules, they are capable of distension on a diametric line,but are not resilient or springy circumferentially, and hence when distended diametrically on one line the flange correspondingly contracts on aline at rightangles to the line of distension, whereas the continuous or unbroken flange of my cap in its best form may be extended diametrically without this corresponding contraction because of its circumferential resiliency and its contractile and expansible capacities, all of which are secured by me, because in the best form of my cap the flange is corrugated substantially throughout all, or at least a considerable portion, of its depth in lines substantially paral lel with the axial line of the cap.

For use with liquids bottled under maximum pressure my sealing-caps in their best form should be employed, because of the specially-effectivo locking capacity due to the circumferential continuity of the metal in the flange; but if the flange be slotted at one or more points the cap may be relied upon in bottling liquids under low pressures. The aforesaid corrugations not only serve an important purpose in connection with securing adaptability of caps of some one precise size to bottle-heads, varied as to their external diameter as well as to the precise location of their looking or engaging shoulders, but still further in that after having been forcibly applied for service on a bottle the flange retains its corrugations on the line of locking contact with the bottle-head, thus securinga firm reliable union of the cap and head without danger of fracturing the bottle while the metal is being forced into contact therewith.

This corrugation on said line (.f locking con tact need not, however, be always dependent upon the initial development of corrugations in the flange, inasmuch as valuable results will accrue if the flange be 'not corrugated until after the cap has been'forced into proper compressing relations with a sealing-disk and while forcing the metal into locking contact with an annular engaging shoulder ona bottle-head. Regardless of how the corrugations may have been developed the metal at the locking line is in more or less yielding contact with the bottle-head and at intervals of space, and after a cap has been displaced it can readily be reapplied and caused to promptly rc-engage with the annular shouldcr on the bottle-head and perform effective temporary service. softrmetal capsules have been heretofore corrugated, but merely for ICO ornamentation, and their corrugations ha e been located only at the upper portions of the capsules, the lower portions thereof being plain and daring and sometimes shtted or cut away for enabling them to be smoothly laid upon the'neck of a bottle below its head. Caps of harder metal-such as tinned: sheetiron-have also had a flaring pendent flange of cofitinuons metal, and the lower edge of the flangehas been ornamentally corrugated, the corrugations been so short and of such a character as to not alfo'rd the circumferential resiliency which is a characteristic feature of my caps in their best form, and, moreover, said prior ornainentally corrugated hardmetal caps were not employed in combination with bottle-heads having an annular engaging shoulder, nor were they adapted to be bent into locking contact with such a shoulrso der, as with caps embodying all or any portion of my present invention.

The corrugations in the flange of a the best form of my sealing-caps not onlysecu-re the peculiar expansible and contractible capacities referred to, but a portion of the metal at pressure of upward of one hundred and-fifty poundstothe squareinch,and mineare the first sealing-caps (not involving thescrew-th read.

edprinciple) which require special provisions and means for enabling them to be promptly and easily displaced from a bottle. In other words, instead of tearing ofi the caps in fragments, as is usual with those'composed of soft metal, or of separately detaching one or more spring-fingers, as with certain forms of prior hard-metal cork-holders having pendent arms or fingers, my sealing-caps are so strong, so

constructed, and so firmly applied to bottles that some form of lover or a cork-screw must be employed for detaching them, and my caps are also the first which when applied to abottie and locked thereto, as described, have the edge of the flange so projected as to aiford a reliableshoulder, with which a detaching-lever may bra-engaged, for enabling a cap to be promptly removdas a result of a prying or wrenching action.

I as roofers tin.

For obtaining the best' results I employ in my caps such sheet metal as tinned-iron plate and preferably that soft-co ated plate known As hereinbefore indicated,I am aware that cork-holders of hard-metal plate have hereto fore been provided with a flange out or slotted to atford a series of pendent arms or fin- 'gers, each of which at its lower end was bent inwardlyfor causing it toengage with an annular shoulder on a bottle-head. Some of said prior devices have had two or three pendentspring-arms,whichwere corrugated at their inwardly-bent extreme lower ends to afford strong fingers at their points of contact with an engaging shoulder on the bottle, said arms and fingers operating with said shoulder somewhat after the mannerof latches in engaging with'theirflkeepersa Said prior spring-arm thereby defeat a uniform sealing eifect with.

the lip of a bottle, whereas my caps are true caps and they peripherally encircle the disk and so confine it against lateral expansion that it is made under pressure to not only evenly conform to the annular edge or lip of the bottle, but also to follow. downwardly and to lie in close packing contact with the outer surface of the bottle below its mouth. Such of my caps as have a slotted flange have in substance a series of pendent arms; but they differ from all prior cap-arms in that each arm is so far corrugated that each inner corrugation is adapted to and is forcibly conformed to the contour of the engaging shoulder on a bottle, and therefore such variations as are liable to and do occur in the form and location of said shoulder do not and cannot cause any variations in the relationof the top of the cap to the'upper surface of a sealing-disk, which is forced upon and held in close contact with the mouth of the "bottle during the bending of the flange of the cap into locking contact with the engaging shoulder on the bottle.

In 'my application for Letters Patent filed November 5,1889, Serial No. 329,314, I have disclosed and claimed a novel sealing-disk composed of granulated cork or suitable woody matter and the gum of linseed-oihand that kind of sealing medium is preferred by me o any other. I find, however, that in, bottling beer, which is pasteurized, as usual, in the bottle after sealing, these disks require a slight coating or facing, 'which.'when subjected to heat, will not become displaced,

as by melting, or adhere to t-he,bottle-lip, as

with ordinary varnishes, and which will. be free from taste and odor, and one which, in fact, will render the disk even more eifective for sealing, because more impervious. Aftervarious experiments I have secured such a facing by coating the inner surface of the disk withaspecial vsolution of gutta-percha, as will be hereinafter more fully described Afterde'scribing several forms of mysealing-cap's and the methods of their application and use, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the features deemed novel will be specified in the several clauses of claims hereunto annexed.

Referring to the drawings, Figures 1, 2, and

3 illustrate one of my sealing-caps in its best form, the same being shown, respectively, in top view, side view, and diametrical section. Fig. 4, in top and edge View, illustrates apreferred form of sealingdisk: Fig. 5, in side view, illustrates a bottle-head in its best form for use with my sealing-caps. Figs. 6 and 7, in side view and section, illustrate one of said caps applied to a bottle-head. Fig. 8,in side view, illustrates one of my sealing-caps having a flange in which the corrugations are symmetrically developed, as in the cap -of Fig. 1; but said corrugations do not extend throughout the depth of the flange. Fig. 9, in side View, illustrates the. cap, Fig.

I; 8, asapplied to a bottle-head. Fig. 10 illustrates in side View one, of my sealing-caps having a flaring flange which at its edge is more or less irregularly crimped or corrugated. Fig. 11 illustrates the cap, Fig. 10, ap-

plied to a bottle-head. Fig. 12 illustrates in side view a sealing-cap having a plain flange,

partly nearly vertical and partly flaring, and which in itself embodies my invention only in so far as it is adapted to be bentinto locking contact with the engaging shoulder of a bottle-head, as illustrated in Fig. 13, said flangewhen thus applied beingcorrugated in the line of lockingcontact with the bottle. ,i Fig. 14 illustrates in sideIyiew still another form of flanged cap which in itself embodies my invention only in so far as it has a flange which is adapted to be bent into locking contact with a bottle-head in a manner as illustrated in. Fig. 15, wherein the metal in the flange is shown to have been developed into well-defined corrugationsin the line of locking contact witha bottle-head, as is clearly illustrated in the sectional view, Fig. 16..

The sealing-cap A (shown in Figs. 1,2, and

v 3) in itself and when applied to bottles em-- bodies the several features of my invention in their best form. Said cap has a flange a, which is symmetrically corrugated substantially throughout its depth and parallel with the axis of the cap, and for the purposes of this specification I will termthe outer ribs a the outer corrugations and the inner ribs or the inner corrugations. These caps are struck up from disks of sheet metal by means of appropriate dies, the corrugationsenabling' the development of the flange without rupturing or unduly straining the metal, and hence low-priced grades of metal vcan be employed. The flanges may be varied in depth or width; but I prefer that it be as narrow as will beconsistent with a proper engagement 'with a bottle-head having thereon an annular shoulder located as near to thelip of the bottle as will-involve enough bulk'of glass to secure the requisite strength. 7

The head B of a bottle, Fig.5, adapted to use with my caps may be varied in form;

the bottle is a matter of materiallconsequence when considered with reference to the top surface of the sealing plug, disk, or cork em ployed at or in the mouth of the bottle and the depth or width of the flange of the cap. In other words, either the shoulder should be so located or the flange be of such width or depth that when the top of the cap has been properly forced upon the sealing-disk and held there the flange will so overlie said shoulder that the latter may be properly embraced by the inner corrugations a. In its best form the bottle-head has also an annular inclined surface b between the shoulder and lip. The edge of said shoulder, although angular, is slightly rounded for strengthem ing purposes, as by avoidance of fracture dur 'ing a forcible contact therewith'of portions of the flange; but said shoulder is well defined, the head being quite deeply recessed below it. Below the recess and shoulder the head has an outwardly-rounded surface, the upper portion b of which is or may be. relied upon as a fulcrum fora cap-detaching device.

The bottle being as thus described, a cap with a disk. 0 therein is placed upon the bot: tie-head and pressure applied to the cap-top a causing the disk to be well compressed and the thin-edged lipb of the bottle to be well embedded therein,and then the periphery of the flange is so compressed that each of the inner corrugations will be bent into close looking contact with the shoulder, those portions a of the metal in each inner corrugation which underlie the shoulder serving to firmly maintain the cap in precisely the position to which .it has. been forced during the compression of shonlder with reference to thetop or lip of l plied, the outer corrugations having sufiicient radial strength to bear without much distortion a force sufficient to cause the inner corrugations to in part effectually embrace the locking-shoulder, and also to freely occupy the recess below and to be in firm contact with the lower surface of the shoulder. It will be seen that after a cap has been thus applied to a bottle-head the lower edge 0 of the flange is so far projected from the adjacent surface of the bottle that it is readily accessible for engagementby a bottleopener for prying or wrenching the cap from the bottle, the metal being hard and strong enough to resist tearing or crippling during the operation. As, forinstance, as illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 6, a hook-shaped lever may be engaged with said projecting edge 0 Bottle-openers devised by me of the character indicated and adapted to the removal of sealing-caps by engaging with their projecting edges will be made the subject'of one or more separate applications for Letters Patent. This projecting edge on a metallic sealing-cap employed in combination with and locked to a bottle is believed to be novel and is of material value when considered in con nection with openiuga bottle; but suchan edge is not wholly dependent upon these corrugations, although the lower end of each outer corrugation presents a properly-projected edge for reliable engagement with an opener. It will be seen thatthe metalm the flange on and adjacent to the line of locking.

contact is corrugated, and hence between each two points of close contact there is an interval or space at which there is no close contact of the metal with the glass, and hence there is more or less freedom for the metal at the actual points of contact to spread laterally in avoidance' of such compressing contact as would be liable tobre'akor' s'plit the glass at and adjacent to theeng'agin g -shoulder b; but these advantages are not wholly dependent upon init-ially providing the flange with corrugations throughout its depth, nor upon initially providing symmetrical and uniform corrugations, nor even upon initially providing any corrugation whatever, so long as the metal cap has a. flange which is adapted to be bent into locking contact with an engaging shoulder on a bottle, and which, when in combination with a bottle, as inuse, has the metal-of the flange more. or less corrugated on or adjacent to the line of locking contact. As, for instance, in the cap A, as shown in Fig. 8, the flange is flared and is symmetrically corrugated at its lower portion only; but when applied to a bottle. and pressure applied to the top of the cap, followed by inward pressure applied to the outer corrugations, the inner corrugations are caused to effectually engage with the locking-shoulder on the bottle, as shown in Fig. 9, and the lower edge 0 of the flange projects so far from the adjacent surface of the glass that an opener may be freely engaged therewith. a

As a further instance, the cap A as shown in Fig. 10, has a flaring .flange, which has its lower portion initially corrugated,'but in a more or less irregular manner, the metal be- This cap, in combination with a botwhich, when applied to and in combination with a bottle, as shown in Fig. 13,'has the lower portion of the flange irregularly corru-.

gated, as the result of bending the expanded flange downwardlyand inwardly into locking relationswith the engaging shoulder on the bottle, and the metal in the flange is corrugated on or adjacent to the line ofloeking contact, as in the previous instances, and the lower edge e of the flangeaffords the same reliable projection with which a bottle-opener may engage.

As a still further instance, the cap A is shown in Fig. 1i, this cap having a plain flange which is not flaring and not initially corrugated; but when applied to and in combination with a bottle,-as shown in Fig. 15, portions of the flange are corrugated, as the result of radial indentations at proper intervals, which bend the flange into desired locking relations with the engaging shoulder and cause the metal to be corrugated at or ad j acent to the line of locking contact, as shown in Fig. 16, leaving the lower edge e projected,

as with the other caps, for reliable engage-- meat with a bottle-opener.

It is nowto be distinctly understood that the sealing-caps shown in Figs. 14 and 15 must be composed of hard metal and that their flanges must be adapted to be bent into locking contact with a bottle, and although I do not presume them to be novel as to form and construction I do believe they are the first caps composed of hard sheet metal which are adapted to the serviceindicated and that they involve radical and valuable novelty when considered in combination with a sealing-disk and bottle having a locking-shoulder, and, further, with the metal of the flange corrugated or indented circumferentially adjacent to or in the line of locking contact,

the flange of the cap confines the disk against peripheral expansion under heavy pressure, and thereby secures a uniform sealing contact not only with the lip of a bottle,but also.

with the exterior surface below the lip, and these close packing or sealing relations between the disk and the bottle are permanently maintained,.because the flange is always bent intolocking contact with the annular shoulder While the disk is under pressure. Any one of these'several caps having been properly applied to a bottle and thcndisplaced can be readily replaced for temporary service and made to effectively resume locking relations with the bottle if more cndwise handpressure be employed or a quick blow delivered to the top of the cap, because in each instance the flange is sufiiciently contractile and expansible to allow it to be detached without serious derangement, and to so far re cover from such expansion as it may have undergone during detachment as to enable it to resume fairly reliable locking and sealing relations with the disk and bottle.

- It will be obvious that while some special form of opener may be required for detaching caps with the greatest possible convenience any thin-edged tool or a knife may be readily applied to the projecting edge 0 for detaching a cap, and to provide for the use of a corkscrew each cap is centrally perforated at the top, as at d, enablingia corkscrew to enter the sealing disk or cork, this being also a feature of novelty in sealing-caps. In certain forms of cap I provide each with a loop at its top, asdisclosed and claimed in my aforesaid application for patent, Serial No. 329,314.. In some instances it is desirable that the edge of the flange be so thoroughly housed within the recess below the engaging shoulder as to practically eliminate the pro jecting edge feature and to thereby secure specially-high resisting poweras, for instance, with some kinds of malt liquors bottied for shipment to tropical countries-and then either the loops described in my said other application may be relied upon for opening purposes or the central perforation for receiving a corkscrew, and it will be obvious that while all of the corrugated caps shown will afford a well-defined, stiff, and strong projecting edge either of them on being well compressed on the line of the middle of the recess in the bottle-head will have the entire lower portion of the flange made substantially flush with and merging with the surface of the bottle-head below the recess.

While I prefer that the flanges of my caps be continuous or unbroken, the caps may be relied upon for service with liquids under comparatively light pressure if the flanges be slitted at intervals, as set forth in my said prior application.

I have illustrated but one form of sealingdisk; but it is to be understood that various forms may be employed, and also that they may be varied as to their component character; but I prefer the flat linoleum disk-composed of granulated woody matter and a practically tasteless and odorless gum, as disclosed and claimed in my aforesaid application.

teurization the disks should be faced or coated with some substance capable of successfully withstandingheat, and which will not and canmoreover, it is absolutely essential that said I I have, however, found that while suo.

jecting bottled beer to the process of pase of properly-prc )ared gutta-percha, which is further of value because of its peculiar impermeability, toughness, and flexibility. The

gutta-percha so used requires no vulcanizing components or processes, has no taste or odor, and is applied in the form of a solution, the

- solvent of which is aromatic benzole, which is very volatile, and in itself is free from objectionable odorand taste; butits taste and odor in any event are both completely eliminated during the proper aging of the coated sheeted material from which the disks are cut.

It is to be understood that the bottle-head herein illustrated embodies what I believe to be certain novel and valuable features, which will be made the subject of a separate application for Letters Patent.

Having thus described my invention, "1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- A 1. The combination, substantially as hereiubefore described, of a bottle having on its head an annular engaging shoulder, a sealingdisk, and a metallic sealing-cap which. encircles the periphery of the disk and has a flange which is bent into locking C intact with said shoulder, and which also has a projected edge to afford a surface with which a bottle-opener may reliably engage for detaching the cap froth the bottle.

2. The combination, with a bottle having on its head an annular locking-shoulder and below said shoulder a projectingsurface,of a sealing-disk and a hard-metal sealing-cap having a flange which is bent into locking contact with said annular shoulder and has a projecting lower edge for engagement by a bottle-opener lever fulcrnmed on the projecting surface of the bottle below said edge.

3. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore described, of a bottle having a head provided with an annular engaging shoulder, a sealing-disk, and a hard-metal sealing-cap having a flange which encircles the disk and is bent into locking contact with said shoulder and is corrugated in the bent portion in the line of said locking contact.

l. The combination, with a bottle havinga head provided with an exterior annular shoulder, of a sealing-disk and a metallic sealingcap which encircles the disk and has its pendent flange corrugated substantially throughout its depth,and also havingits inner corrugations bent to conform with or to the annular shoulder on the head of the bottle, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with a bottle having a head provided with an exterior annular shoulder, of a sealing-disk at the mouth of the bottie, and a metallic sealing-cap having a continuous or unbroken pendent flange corrugated substantially throughout its depth in lines parallel with the axis of the cap and having a portion of the metal at each interior IIO . nap

corrugation bent orindcntcd to conform with the coincident surface of the annular shoulder.

6. A bottle-sealing cap composed of sheet metal andhaving a continuous or unbroken integral pendent flangewhich is corrugated substantially throughout its depth in lines parallel with the axis of the cap, whereby said flange is caused to be resilient diametrically and circumferentially for enabling the cap to be applied to any one of a set of bottles hav-' ing heads slightly varied in their external diameter.

- 7. Abottle-sealing cap composed of sheet" metal and having an integral pendent flange corrugated substantially throughout its depth in lines parallel with the axis of the cap and at each interior corrugation bent to conform .to an annular engaging shoulder upon the head of a bottle with which the cap isadapted ,for use. p

a wee ease The co mbi nation, with a metallic scalingcap having a flange adapted to be bent into locking contact with a bottle-head providedwith an annular engaging shouldcr,of a linolcumdisk having on its-inner surface a coating or layer of gutta-percha for strengthening the disk and preventing its adhesion to the lip or mouth of a bottlen 9. The combination, with a bottle having a head provided with an exterior annularshoulder,of a sealing-disk at the mouth of the-bottie, and a metallic sealing-cap having a continuous orrnnbrokeu flange bent or indented circumferentially to conform with the coincident surface of the annular shoulder and having a. projecting lower edge, as set forth.

WILLIAM PAINTER.

\Vitnesses:

- V. R. ALEXANPER, ORRIN C. PAINTER. 

